'ERE WE GO!

 So...yeah...

...this happened...

Playing those games of 2nd Edition 40k has made me want to start a new army and I've gone with Orks. I've not gone with 2nd Edition models because the cost would be a bit prohibitive on an army that needs to be as big as an Ork army does.

Why Orks? It's the army I wanted at the time I was reading all those White Dwarf articles, vainly supporting Jervis Johnson as he got repeatedly smashed. I've actually started Ork armies in 40k and WFB before but always been put off by the scale of the painting. However, now that I enjoy painting more than I did and and somewhat faster at it, I've decided to have another go.

As this is me, I began by heading to eBay to see what I could pick up and managed to get my hands on about 30 Orks for £20, which seemed a decent deal and set about painting them.

I began with a unit of 9 Goff Boys (who may end up as Skarboyz) and a Nob which I painted according to Midwinter Minis speed painting Ork Boyz guide (so rather than saying what I did, you should go there, it's a good guide) give or take a few paints and choices.

I made sure to get checks on each model (my free handing is never amazing, but these are Orks, so it doesn't matter) and ensured that there was a bit of red on each model because these are destined for 2nd Edition games. They're a bit grimmer and grittier than most 2nd Edition models, but I'm happy with how they've come out...although I have just noticed that the barrels still need doing.

I then moved on to a unit of 6 Deathskulls with missile launchers (not 'rokkits' as these are for 2nd Edition). 

One of the pleasures of eBay is letting somebody else make choices for you. In this case there were only two genuine rokkit launcher boys in the unit. The rest were just missiles stuck onto sticks. I was going to try to add firing mechanisms to these (and I still might) but I figured that if Orks believe a rokkit on a stick will work, then it will.

An interesting detail of this unit is that several of the kitbashed models use fantasy Orcs as a base. This actually works out really well as it suits the 'loota' nature of the Deathskulls and gives them a more ramshackle appearance.

I'd done these two units fairly quickly and had got it into my head that I would hold off on posting until I'd painted the whole lot I'd bought. Then two things happened.

Firstly, work became a bit busy, meaning that my output slowed down. Secondly, I bought more stuff (a Warboss, some Nobs and special weapons, and a bunch of Gretchin) and so my deadlines got pushed further out.

I only go back to painting the Gretchin this week, their number supplemented by a handful of Gnoblars that were lurking at the bottom of the bits box. Two of these were given blunderbusses from the old Empire Militia kit, but two still need ranged weapons or are destined to become assistants for characters.

Being smaller and less detailed, I worked through the Gretchin quite quickly, the only major difference in method being using a lighter green for highlighting the skin. However, it had now been almost two weeks since my last post.

Therefore I made the decision to finish off the last of the larger mobs and post where I was up. And so I did and here they are: the Bad Moon boyz.

The pervious mobs of Orks had sort of chosen their clan for me as Goffs are melee specialists and Deathskulls are allowed more than two heavy weapons. However, when it came to the bolter (not 'shoota' remember, this is 2nd Edition) armed boyz thins were less clear cut. 

I opted for Bad Moons for a number of reasons. Firstly, them all having bolters or heavy stubbers (not 'big shootas') did reflect the Bad Moons background of having the best stuff, even though their particular rule is about having more special weapons. Secondly, I'd already mentally decided that I wanted a mob of each clan, meaning that the others were all likely to be special units: Snakebite boarboyz, Evil Sunz bikers and Blood Axe Kommandos. Finally, I had decided for the flimsiest reason that my Warboss would be a Bad Moon and so I could add more models to this mob as I went along, including special weapons as I got my hands on them and therefore this would be the only clan that might be represented more than once.

And there we have it. Although the idea of saving up painting for a big drop was nice, the practicality left me struggling to meet artificial deadlines, which is not a thing I want in my hobby. I'll return to posting more often but with less content. Additionally, keeping track of the Lead Mountain was quite tricky, especially as a visit to Chillcon added a couple more free miniatures to the pile (I picked up the Star Saga game really cheaply too, but I have no intention of painting the miniatures for that).

Acquired: 47

Painted: 122

Lead Mountain:515